The Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury met with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome today:

Pope, Anglican Leader Meet, Agree to Strengthen Relationship

By Chiara Remondini

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Pope Benedict XVI and Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, reiterated their wish to strengthen the relationship between the Roman Catholics and the Church of England at a meeting in Rome today.

The two spiritual leaders expressed a “shared will to continue and to consolidate the ecumenical relationship between Catholics and Anglicans,” the Vatican said in a statement on its Web site.

They also discussed in the private audience “the challenges facing all Christian communities” and the need “to promote forms of collaboration,” according to the release.

One reason might be that the Vatican-based Cardinal Walter Kasper stated that Rome was approached by Anglicans for reunification:

In a Nov. 15 interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Holy See’s office for dialogue with other Christians, said that “to think that the Pope made this decision just to ‘expand his empire’ is ridiculous. A group of Anglicans freely and legitimately asked to enter the Catholic Church. It was not our initiative.” http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1941223,00.html

Thus, as I mentioned in my last post about Rowan Williams, he is in a difficult position.

All in the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox worlds will need to decide, probably next decade, if they will stay where they are, support the original Church of God, or will merge into an ecumenical modified form of Catholicism. The Anglicans are beginning to face that decision now.

Yesterday, Rowan Williams made it clear that since he supports the ordination of women he will not unify will Rome unless the Vatican changes on this–which is not something that the Vatican is prepared to now do:

Dr Rowan Williams told a conference in Rome that the Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women was a bar to Christian unity.“For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women,” he said…

The ordination of women priests — and the prospect of women bishops — is one of the main reasons why disaffected Anglicans may take up the Pope’s offer of a “Church within a Church” that would enable them to retain traditional Anglican practices within the Catholic faith.

But yesterday the Archbishop made clear that there would be no turning back the clock on women priests in order to appease critics. He dismissed the Pope’s offer to disaffected Anglicans as barely more than a “pastoral response”, which broke little new ground in relations between the two Churches. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6923807.ece

Due to Rowan Williams’ insistence on the ordination of women, he and those that follow him will likely remain away from Rome. Hence, despite the outward appearances of cooperation, this will likely lead to a deep divide between the Anglicans that remain with Canterbury and the Vatican. This may have profound affects on the UK and others in the future.